Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Janet Gaynor's Ice Box Cookies


Much excitement in the Silver Screen Silver camp as I'm off to a big dinner party at the home of Gladys tonight. There will be not one, not two but three other celeb chefs there too. EEK. I am taking some Ice Box Cookies all wrapped up in cellophane as party favours...

Also this week we had a lovely piece on the Sassy Minx website - here is a link:

and I will try and put a button on the side bar too.

RECIPE TESTERS NEEDED!

I'll be sending out the list of 100 stars and recipes that we plan to feature in the Silver Screen Suppers book at the end of the week to anyone who fancies testing one for us. Your name will appear in the acknowledgments so drop me an email at silverscreensuppers@yahoo.co.uk if you'd like to give one a whirl. A tiny taste of fame can be yours, and you'll get to sprinkle some stardust around your kitchen as you eat like the stars!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Louise Brooks' Knickerbocker Supreme of Chicken


Louise, you rock.

My beautiful friend Ava came round for dinner tonight and we discussed the perils and pleasures of letting men into our lives, the horrors of self assessment tax returns and the chances of being struck by lightning if wearing an i-pod. It was a Prosecco fueled chatathon and long overdue.

I made every single thing in Rosalind's kitchen a candidate for washing up whilst preparing Louise's dish, but it was worth it. My mum's delicious home cooked gammon tucked underneath the cream and flour encrusted chicken gave it the saltiness it needed. It was quite, quite delicious.

Ava cracked me up once again with the tale of her pyjama clad terrine pressing adventures. She managed to avoid telling the nurses at the casualty department how a grease infested terrine was the cause of her sliding across the kitchen floor and gaining a leg black and blue with a severe oblong shaped bruise.

The terrine came out of it unscathed apparently.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Marlene Dietrich's Lamb Chops en Casserole


"I was raised almost entirely on turnips and potatoes, but I think that the turnips had more to do with the effect than the potatoes."

Marlene was not only androgynous, but asymmetrical too!

I went to my lock up this morning with heavy heart as it always depresses me to see how much junk I have in storage. However, as Blessed was on the security desk and told me that I looked like I had "just arrived from Hollywood" I left there with a spring in my step. I think it was my 1950s sunglasses.

On my way to work I stopped off at a traditional butchers shop - he had such a magnificent display of meat in the window I couldn't resist buying two big lamb steaks which I'll cook for a romantic dinner a deux tonight a la Marlene.

It must be my lucky day - the man on the veg stall had turnips! And no joke about having them in his trousers either...

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Anna May Wong's Tea Cake



There is a mini Vesuvius erupting in my oven. I decided to make Ruth a birthday cake using Anna Mae Wong's Tea Cake recipe. I made twice the mixture and instead of making individual muffin type cakes, bunged it all in a cake tin. As Sidney and I waited for the spare ribs to come out of the oven I noticed it was rising in the tin like a round loaf of eggy bread.

Sidney suggested placing the cake tin on a baking tray and I nearly resisted his practical advice. When I had a look just now it had exploded, flowing down the sides of the tin and collecting around the bottom like a fluffy petticoat. I have popped some foil over the top and will hope for the best.

As Della Reese puts it "It's so nice to have a man around the house", while I was making the cake, Sidney fixed four pairs of sunglasses and one brooch that have been in my mending box for a donkey's age...

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Marion Martin's Peanut and Bacon Bouchees



Those little Bouchees sure are a crowd pleaser!

Had a lovely evening on the balcony with Ruthie, her new beau, Ava, Sidney and Edmund. My Sister of the Skillet has arrived during Britain's heatwave. It is amusing her greatly that the Brits are huffing and puffing about the heat when his is actually COLD here compared to Texas.

Ava entertained us with tales of working at her loom in a sequined bikini - she conjured up a lovely image. And I was very pleased that two of my guests, when trying to pick me out of a line-up of 12 naked women in last week's colour supplement chose a woman of 29! As Ruth observed, we should all try and see ourselves as others see us.

Ruth and I are debating who Mr Goodsnog should be on the blog. "Strong face" Ruthie is saying as she's trying to put a name to the star she is thinking of... Ronald Coleman!